Think Women - the time for action is now
A number of reports and surveys reveal how women are most likely to shoulder the impact of the downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, Fiona Murchie responds.
23 September 2020
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Covid-19’s impact on women's work
The nature of work remains significantly gender-specific, with women and men tending to cluster in different occupations in both mature and emerging economies. Female jobs are 19% more at risk than male ones simply because women are disproportionately represented in sectors negatively affected by Covid-19. They estimate that 4.5% of women’s employment is at risk in the pandemic globally, compared with 3.8% of men’s employment.On the plus side, in sectors such as education and healthcare, women are the majority and have suffered relatively little impact.
The strong message from the McKinsey research is that the faster policy makers and business leaders act to push for greater gender equality, even as the Covid-19 crisis continues, the bigger the benefits – not just for gender equality, but also for economic growth. Taking action now could increase 2030 GDP by $13 trillion relative to the do-nothing scenario.What could make a difference?
Previous research showed the clear benefit of investment in five areas; education, family planning, maternal mortality, digital inclusion and unpaid care work. The McKinsey research further found a diversity dividend for companies. Those in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile.Its conclusion is that companies pulling back on diversity and inclusion may be placing themselves at a disadvantage in terms of resilience and the ability to recover from the current crisis; they could be limiting their access to talent, diverse skills, leadership styles and perspective.Related:
- Think Global People: the Road to Future Fit
- Make a difference to your career and your future
- Women on boards: have targets worked?
The MGI has determined the value of unpaid care work done by women is $10 trillion or 13% of global GDP. Interventions to address unpaid childcare and the imbalance in responsibility for care between men and women could make a difference to softening the impact of the pandemic on women at work, and increase access to quality jobs and careers for the benefit of everyone.Potential interventions include:
- Employer or state-funded provision of childcare or tax policies that encourage both spouses to work
- Family-friendly policies, including flexible programmes and part- time programmes, to support workers experiencing an increased childcare burden during the pandemic and beyond
- Rethinking performance reviews and promotions, as well as senior- and middle-management buy-in to ensure the widescale adoption of changes
- A professionalised childcare sector
- Access to basic infrastructure – reduction of time spent on unpaid work, ie in lower-income countries this would include taskslike fetching water and firewood
- Crucial measures to change social norms about who bears childcare responsibilities.
Steps to address inequalities
The report goes on to provide steps to address inequalities:- Increase digital infrastructure, particularly in emerging economies
- Address gender stereotypes that inhibit women’s access to mobile phones and improving women’s digital literacy
- Measures to promote gender diversity in funding for women entrepreneurs, including eliminating biases in recruitment and selection processes for incubators or accelerators
- Aspecialfocusonwomen-owned enterprises under the stimulus programmes of various countries
- Enabling technologies ensuring that women have access to the means of identification through high-assurance digital-ID with simple, inclusive registrationprocesses
- Interventions to address attitudinal biases: efforts to change entrenched, widespread attitudes about women’s role in society.
Our global community is in a position via our Think Women community initiative to make a difference. A difference not only to the career prospects of women working in an international context, but also to help prevent a slide backwards in terms of pay parity and gender inequality. We are rising to the challenge highlighted in the report for governments and businesses to “consider how to safeguard girls’ education, tackle violence against women and protect maternal health – to name but a few.”Read about how you can get involved with our Think Women Community ‘Make a difference to your career and the future’Attend the next online Think Women Event on 11 November. Register your interest today.To find out how to join, support or sponsor contact Fiona Murchie fiona@relocatemagazine.com or call +44 (0)1892 891334
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